Once the sun had set, the duo made their way in the direction of the estate, using the cliffside and the trees to mask their movements. They moved in silence, communicating only by meeting gazes and the occasional hand signal; even after this many years, their ability to read one another was impeccable. They seemed to know exactly what the other was thinking without so much as a word. It was a tremendous asset on a mission, especially one with this level of surveillance required.
They reached the estate's outer wall, slipping in through a basement window that had been left open. It was an empty room into the lower levels of the castle; from the looks of it, it appeared to be a series of holding cells for prisoners. What a lord would want with prisoners, Sakura had no idea; it seemed like something the Daimyo was more likely to handle.
They moved through the cells, seeing a series of people who appeared to be in various states of delirium; some were even drooling as they sat in their cells, shuffling slowly if they did move at all. It looked like some of the symptoms Sakura had been briefed on regarding the mysterious illness; these were likely people infected with whatever was going around. It was a good thing that they weren't likely to be infected themselves; Sakura had taken a healthy number of precautions to avoid that.
"This is what's been happening to people?" Sasuke asked quietly, a grim expression on his features.
"Yeah. It seems like the lord has kept a few of them around. They don't seem to respond to any coaxing or communication. They're still alive, but... well, I don't even know if I'd call this kind of life alive by any means." She looked at one of the caged people sombrely, shaking off the brief pang of sadness she felt in her heart. "So the lord is involved with this somehow." Just then, her sensory technique picked up something; she could feel footsteps moving down the stairs to the area.
"Someone's coming," she said quickly, and they moved to a dark corner at the end of the cells, hidden among the shadows. In the dimly lit corridor, Sakura saw a large, burly man accompanying the lord.
"Hmm... it appears they're still not responding the way we'd like," Arakawa remarked as he walked down the cells, scoffing at each of them. "Akuma, take Kiyoko and find a few more subjects that will be more resilient to the technique. And tell Tsurugi he needs to start working on refining it. He promised me an army, not... this." He scoffed at one of the prisoners, frowning up at the burly man.
"Sure. As long as you pay up for it," Akuma replied gruffly. "Or maybe you'll find Kiyoko stopping your heart in your sleep." By the sound in Akuma's voice, it appeared that Arakawa hadn't paid them in full for the last job they'd done.
"Taking out the Uchiha was not part of our deal, so as I told you before, I'm not obligated to pay for it. I wasn't aware he was even looking into our experiments. Last I checked, he was a war criminal." Arakawa chuckled. "You'd think he'd understand the need for an army when politicians like to screw over everyone but themselves." As Arakawa spoke, Sakura could feel Sasuke seething beside her; she gently laid a hand on his arm to calm him. She knew he wanted payback for being attacked and nearly killed. It seemed that Akuma and his partner Kiyoko had been responsible for the injuries he'd sustained.
"Fine. But if he shows up again, you're paying, or I'll rip your guts out with my bare hands." Whoever this Akuma character was, he was vicious and violent; he even gave Sakura the creeps.
"Fine, fine. And if I'm lucky, I can coerce that pretty little doctor into helping us. Oh, she's such a bleeding heart, I can just tell. Perhaps she can help us refine the formula. I'll tell her that my castle staff have become ill or something." He laughed wickedly, moving back up the stairs with Akuma behind him, leaving Sakura and her companion alone.
"I'm not going to go after him now," Sasuke defended quietly ."I'm not stupid."
"I know," Sakura responded. "But I could tell you were tense. It's okay. We'll work together to make this right." She squeezed his shoulder. "I think we've found everything we can for tonight. Let's head back and come up with a plan for the party, and we can go from there." With a nod, Sasuke moved toward their previous entrance with catlike grace, Sakura following quietly behind him. They moved toward the trees, watching the estate from afar for a bit.
"So I'm guessing Akuma and his partner Kiyoko were the ones that attacked you," Sakura queried once they were well out of sight of the estate.
"Yeah. I guess that's their names. Akuma uses techniques I don't recognize; he cut his hand and used his blood to attack. Needles, that sort of thing. If they cut me, he'd similarly use my own. Kiyoko must be the Hyuga combatant... though how a Hyuga managed to escape the village without being caught is beyond me." Hyuga were a rarity, and for one to be a rogue that managed to escape... that was even more unheard of.
"I'll get Katsuyu to visit Hinata when we get back and see if she or her father knows something. Hinata might not, but Hiashi ought to know that sort of thing." It was worth a shot. Hopefully, he'd be able to give her a lead of some kind. "Let's head back. I don't think we're going to be able to find much more here today." His nod was the only response Sakura needed to begin leading the way back to the clinic, slipping in through the back door and locking it behind them. She let out a sigh of relief once they were safe, slipping her headband off and setting it on the table. "Okay, so... game plan for the party," she said as she took a seat. He draped his cloak on one of the hooks and sat down across from her, ready to hear whatever plan she had in mind. He would follow Sakura's lead on this; it was her mission, after all.
"I'll attend the party as a guest, and you can come as my guard. I'll do most of the talking, so you won't have to do much. Your job will be to watch the crowd. Count the guards, take stock of what we're up against, and see what we'll have to get through if a fight breaks out. I'm our key in; you're our eyes." It was amazing just how useful he was about to prove to her mission; having a second person made her job significantly more straightforward. It being someone she could trust was even better. She knew she could rely on Sasuke to do his part of the work.
"So surveil the area and watch for threats. Otherwise, I'm your bodyguard. Simple enough." He wasn't looking forward to the party. No, more accurately, he wasn't looking forward to watching Sakura have to flirt with the degenerate lord. He wasn't looking forward to watching him leer at her the way he did. He did his best to hide his disgust at the situation, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "Is there anything else we need to go over? I could use some rest." Despite his changed attitude toward the world, he still found it difficult at times to temper his emotions; he was determined not to let them get the better of him, unlike in his younger years when they had consumed him. He was making progress, but it was just that: progress.
"Yeah, sure. I could use some, too. The clinic shouldn't be busy the next couple of days, so we'll be able to plan and prepare for the party. I'll have to pick up a kimono and size it, so I look at least somewhat formal... After that, we can make our way over to the lord's estate and attend the party." Sakura moved toward the kitchen and got to work on the dishes from their dinner, thoroughly washing them and setting them aside to dry. With that done, she smiled at Sasuke, who was getting himself comfortably set up on the couch. There wasn't going to be any convincing him to take the bed; she could tell by his stubbornness the night before. With her luck, he wasn't going to give up the couch no matter how much she begged going forward.
"Good night, Sasuke-kun," Sakura called, giving him a shy smile. She saw the corners of his lips twitch as if he wanted to smile but resisted.
"Good night, Sakura," he called back, settling on the couch. He closed his eyes, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't seem to fall asleep. A few hours passed before he finally gave up, standing and stretching as he quietly moved about the house. His instincts led him to the bedroom, where he could see Sakura was sound asleep; she didn't even move as he made it to the doorway.
He took a moment, staring at her and contemplating. He knew he owed her so much for the things he'd done over the years. Half of the reason he'd stuck around to help with her mission was precisely that: atonement. He genuinely wanted to make up for the mistakes he'd made, though there was a part of him that was convinced he'd never be able to make up for everything. Sakura was too good to him, and she always had been. She was a kind, gentle soul, and he'd treated her like her kindness was worthless. Staring at her, seeing her like this, he couldn't help but remember how he'd been. If he'd seen her like this, he might have killed her in her sleep without a second thought. He drew closer to the bed, seeing her chest slowly rise and fall with each breath. She was alive, no thanks to him.
His hand reached forward to brush a few stray strands of hair away from her face, doing his best not to disturb her in the process. His index and middle finger lingered on the seal in the center of her forehead; while he was recovering after the war, he'd had the opportunity to learn a bit about what that seal meant. It made him both proud and jealous; Sakura had always been the weakest of them when it came to natural chakra capacity, while even Naruto blew the both of them out of the water. Granted, Naruto was—as Sakura would likely put it—a wastrel when it came to utilizing the capacity he had, but he still put them both to shame.
"I'm sorry, Sakura," he whispered softly to the sleeping pinkette. "For everything I've ever done. I know you have it in your heart to forgive me... but I hope one day you can teach me to forgive myself for the horrible things I put you through." With that off his chest, he moved back to the living room and laid back down, closing his eyes. He'd never have the guts to say those words to her face when she was awake, but to her sleeping figure... well, that was close enough.